1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electrostatic separation of particles; and more particularly, it relates to novel electrodes for use in electrostatic separation methods.
2. Related Art
The art related to this invention describes different sizes, shapes, and arrangements of electrostatic electrodes used for the separation of particles having any of a variety of different electrostatic charges. None of the prior art teaches such an electrode having a thin, rectangular box-shape such as that taught by the present invention.
The closest related art is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,762, which was issued Oct. 12, 1993 to J. B. Taylor and A. H. Jackson and assigned to the assignee of the present invention; and U.S. Ser. No. 09/096,863, filed by A. H. Jackson on Jun. 12, 1998, entitled "ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF PARTICLES", also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Both disclose and claim separation apparatus employing tubular electrodes and tubular brushes for cleaning the electrodes in machines designed to separate a mixture of types of particles into their component parts so as to recover particles of one type separated from particles of a second type.